DOCSLIB.ORG

Butterfield Ja18

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

P O S T HASTE STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY SUSAN DRAGOO Now largely forgotten, the BUTTERFIELD OVERLAND MAIL ROUTE in SOUTHEASTERN Oklahoma is a historic tie to the nation’s westward expansion. For the intrepid traveler, following its trace through the state is a WILD WEST treasure hunt. The Brazil Creek Bridge in LeFlore County is a pony truss span over a scenic spot near what was a nineteenth- century mail station. 80 July/August 2018 OklahomaToday.com 81 HE LAND STILL bears the faded scars of the old route: a swale through a pasture, a cut-down creek bank, a path worn bare Tthrough the forest. In some forgotten places, walled springs still flow near the rubble of rock buildings or graveyards of broken stones. Tey testify to the At the time, long sea journeys were the easiest mode of TRAVEL long-ago passage of the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoaches through from the EAST COAST to the newly populous west, and the nation what would become Oklahoma. It’s been 160 years since the first needed a more efficient way to DELIVER THE MAIL. two bags of mail on the route crossed the Poteau River into Indian Territory. Today, an excursion along Oklahoma’s 192 miles of the Butterfield trail is both time warp and treasure hunt. My husband Bill and I set out to retrace the Indian Territory section of the 1858- 1861 Butterfield route, traveling the back roads of southeastern Oklahoma to discover what remains. Three-cent stamp from 1861, uspcs.org HE ROAD BEGAN in Tipton, Mis- Tsouri, at a terminus of the Pacific Railroad. At the time, long sea journeys were the easiest mode of travel from the East Coast to the newly populous west, and the nation needed a more efficient way to deliver the mail. Enter Utica, New York, native John Butterfield. He was a veteran stagecoach man and a founder of the Railway Express company that eventually became American Express. In 1857, Butterfield secured from the Postmaster General a contract to set The Lime Arch Bridge in Pittsburg County near Hartshorne is a natural rock formation near Brushy Creek. 82 July/August 2018 OklahomaToday.com 83 Our first stop is Walker’s Station at SKULLYVILLE. Here on a quiet country lane once sat the Choctaw Agency, which was established in 1832 to distribute tribal allowances to citizens of the CHOCTAW NATION. up the stage line and, in a year’s time, One of the challenges of finding organized a network of coaches, drivers, the old road today is that virtually all horses, guards, veterinarians, black- of it, except what’s been incorporated smiths, stables, and mules to cover into modern roads, is behind barbed the 2,800-mile mail route. wire fences and locked gates. Luckily, Te first coach left Tipton on the Oklahoma Historical Society September 16, 1858, bound for San placed roadside markers at station Francisco. After crossing Missouri, sites in 1958 to commemorate the Arkansas, and Indian Territory, the trail’s centennial, and most of the route made a long traverse of Texas markers still are intact and accessible. then skirted the Mexico border into California before turning north HE FIRST BUTTERFIELD wagon arrived toward its final destination. Te Tat 2:05 a.m. on September 19, Postmaster General required delivery 1858 in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and of the mail within twenty-five days, that’s where we begin our journey. Te a goal Butterfield’s drivers often beat. stagecoach forded the Poteau River and entered Indian Territory about 3:30 a.m. We leave Fort Smith through Ar- koma, crossing the Poteau River bridge and following State Highway 9A. Our first stop is Walker’s Station at Skullyville. Here on a quiet country lane once sat the Choctaw Agency, which was established in 1832 to dis- tribute tribal allowances to citizens of the Choctaw Nation. Te station was at the home of Choctaw Governor Tandy Walker, and his house stood on this hillside until it burned in 1947. Today, JJ RITCHEY the spot would be easy to miss, but on Spring Road, a green sign for Roselawn was overgrown and unkempt, densely is easy to spot from the roadside on The Butterfield Overland Mail Route Ten-cent stamps from Before running the first stage, Cemetery marks a turn-off. Here, a covered with blackberry and hon- Rock Jail Road northwest of Panama. traveled 192 miles through Indian 1861, uspcs.org Butterfield made arrangements with walk north along the street reveals a eysuckle bushes. Now, the cemetery Te county road dead-ends to the Territory. It originated in Missouri and Choctaw and Chickasaw citizens granite marker and a bronze plaque in is managed by the Choctaw Nation southwest, so we detour over Buck ended in San Francisco. living on or near the road to maintain a trace of the stagecoach road. Looking and well groomed, and the graves of Creek Mountain, crossing a steel stands where teams of horses quickly southwest from the marker, the depres- Tandy Walker and other Choctaw truss bridge at Brazil Creek. Brazil Turning west on Latham Road could be changed out. In Indian sion in the earth left by the trail is leaders are shaded by massive oaks. Station was nearby, a stop on local toward Trahern’s Station, we come Territory, there were a dozen official obvious, and water still seeps down the Te stagecoach road continued mail lines, though not an official across the second marker near Te stations about sixteen miles apart, hill from the spring house to the north. southwest of Spiro, passing near Butterfield station. Wright observed Ranch at Latham, an event center beginning with Walker’s Station at Oklahoma historian Muriel Wright, the Skullyville County Jail, the only the station’s old well still in use and and performance venue owned by Skullyville near present-day Spiro. Te who was part of the 1958 entourage remaining artifact of the Skullyville a cemetery plot at the site. With Jonathan and Kelly Watson. Te trail then ran southwest on a diagonal identifying marker sites, mentions in County government of the Choctaw property owner Karen Looper, we centerpiece of the Watsons’ barn is, near Latham, Red Oak, Wilburton, her report the tall trees giving the site Nation. Te present stone jail was find the moss-covered gravestones appropriately, a stagecoach, and they Higgins, Atoka, Boggy Depot, and an aura of dignity and importance. built in 1888, replacing facilities enclosed by a wrought-iron fence, even have a surrey with a fringe on Durant before reaching the site of Te Skullyville cemetery is just west established soon after the Choctaws and Looper leads us to the rubble of top. Not surprisingly, cowboy-themed Colbert’s Ferry at the Red River. of the station. Wright noted that it were removed to Indian Territory. It Brazil School. weddings are their specialty. 84 July/August 2018 OklahomaToday.com 85 Trahern’s also was the location of historical marker sits at the roadside. State Park is located among the Sans within a few feet of the roadway. We We try to maintain our southwesterly Clockwise from left, Dog Creek Ranch in the council house of the Musholatub- Now unoccupied, the structure appears Bois Mountains a short drive north stop at a marker for the Mountain course but encounter a locked gate. Tis Poteau; Walker’s Station near Skullyville; bee district of the Choctaw Nation. sound, though its porch is a bit shaky. of Wilburton on Highway 2, and we Station spring, which still flows. Be- presents an opportunity to venture off Oklahomans celebrating the Butterfield A large mound south of the histori- Two fine stone chimneys still are intact. enjoy a night in one of the cliff-side yond the spring, we catch a glimpse the trail to visit Lime Arch Bridge, one centennial in 1958 cal marker is reportedly the grave of I walk to the cemetery to gaze north cabins before hitting the trail again the of a rocky trace of the trail on the of Oklahoma’s few natural stone arches. Chief Musholatubbee; legend has it toward the wooded Brazil Creek valley next morning. hillside. To find it, we head southwest out of the mound is so large because he was and the hills beyond. But the trail is becoming harder Hartshorne, eventually turning west buried with his horse. We drive on to Red Oak, stop- ROM LUTIE, THE old trail parallels U.S. to find. An obscure section line road on Arch Road. Soon, we spy a small Beyond the Walls community on ping briefly at the Holloway’s Station FHighway 270 for about six miles over a low water bridge at Buffalo pull-out and a gate clearly intended Norris Road, we find a real treasure marker, then to the Lutie Cemetery then turns south, ascending to Moun- Creek takes us to Pusley’s Station, to provide access for foot traffic and hidden on a hilltop: the only surviv- east of Wilburton. Te Riddle’s Station tain Station. Now only a cemetery, where only the base of the historical bearing the handwritten words, “Keep ing original building along the But- marker is located near the cemetery, Mountain Station was not an official marker remains. It is right in the trace gate closed.” A short walk takes us to terfield route in Oklahoma. Edwards and the stone-rimmed Riddle burial Butterfield stop, but it boasted a post of the stagecoach road, which leads a huge limestone formation. Tere, Store, a hewn-log structure, was built plot abides near a towering oak. office and probably owes its existence toward the creek.
Recommended publications
  • Ally, the Okla- Homa Story, (University of Oklahoma Press 1978), and Oklahoma: a History of Five Centuries (University of Oklahoma Press 1989)

    Ally, the Okla- Homa Story, (University of Oklahoma Press 1978), and Oklahoma: a History of Five Centuries (University of Oklahoma Press 1989)

    Oklahoma History 750 The following information was excerpted from the work of Arrell Morgan Gibson, specifically, The Okla- homa Story, (University of Oklahoma Press 1978), and Oklahoma: A History of Five Centuries (University of Oklahoma Press 1989). Oklahoma: A History of the Sooner State (University of Oklahoma Press 1964) by Edwin C. McReynolds was also used, along with Muriel Wright’s A Guide to the Indian Tribes of Oklahoma (University of Oklahoma Press 1951), and Don G. Wyckoff’s Oklahoma Archeology: A 1981 Perspective (Uni- versity of Oklahoma, Archeological Survey 1981). • Additional information was provided by Jenk Jones Jr., Tulsa • David Hampton, Tulsa • Office of Archives and Records, Oklahoma Department of Librar- ies • Oklahoma Historical Society. Guide to Oklahoma Museums by David C. Hunt (University of Oklahoma Press, 1981) was used as a reference. 751 A Brief History of Oklahoma The Prehistoric Age Substantial evidence exists to demonstrate the first people were in Oklahoma approximately 11,000 years ago and more than 550 generations of Native Americans have lived here. More than 10,000 prehistoric sites are recorded for the state, and they are estimated to represent about 10 percent of the actual number, according to archaeologist Don G. Wyckoff. Some of these sites pertain to the lives of Oklahoma’s original settlers—the Wichita and Caddo, and perhaps such relative latecomers as the Kiowa Apache, Osage, Kiowa, and Comanche. All of these sites comprise an invaluable resource for learning about Oklahoma’s remarkable and diverse The Clovis people lived Native American heritage. in Oklahoma at the Given the distribution and ages of studies sites, Okla- homa was widely inhabited during prehistory.
  • University of Oklahoma Libraries Western History Collections Works

    University of Oklahoma Libraries Western History Collections Works

    University of Oklahoma Libraries Western History Collections Works Progress Administration Historic Sites and Federal Writers’ Projects Collection Compiled 1969 - Revised 2002 Works Progress Administration (WPA) Historic Sites and Federal Writers’ Project Collection. Records, 1937–1941. 23 feet. Federal project. Book-length manuscripts, research and project reports (1937–1941) and administrative records (1937–1941) generated by the WPA Historic Sites and Federal Writers’ projects for Oklahoma during the 1930s. Arranged by county and by subject, these project files reflect the WPA research and findings regarding birthplaces and homes of prominent Oklahomans, cemeteries and burial sites, churches, missions and schools, cities, towns, and post offices, ghost towns, roads and trails, stagecoaches and stage lines, and Indians of North America in Oklahoma, including agencies and reservations, treaties, tribal government centers, councils and meetings, chiefs and leaders, judicial centers, jails and prisons, stomp grounds, ceremonial rites and dances, and settlements and villages. Also included are reports regarding geographical features and regions of Oklahoma, arranged by name, including caverns, mountains, rivers, springs and prairies, ranches, ruins and antiquities, bridges, crossings and ferries, battlefields, soil and mineral conservation, state parks, and land runs. In addition, there are reports regarding biographies of prominent Oklahomans, business enterprises and industries, judicial centers, Masonic (freemason) orders, banks and banking, trading posts and stores, military posts and camps, and transcripts of interviews conducted with oil field workers regarding the petroleum industry in Oklahoma. ____________________ Oklahoma Box 1 County sites – copy of historical sites in the counties Adair through Cherokee Folder 1. Adair 2. Alfalfa 3. Atoka 4. Beaver 5. Beckham 6.
  • Lake Texoma State Park Resource Management Plan Marshall County, Oklahoma

    Lake Texoma State Park Resource Management Plan Marshall County, Oklahoma

    Lake Texoma State Park Resource Management Plan Marshall County, Oklahoma Lowell Caneday, Ph.D. 6/30/2017 Fatemeh (Tannaz) Soltani, Ph.D. Chang-Heng (Hank) Yang This page intentionally left blank. i Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the assistance of numerous individuals in the preparation of this Resource Management Plan (RMP). On behalf of the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department’s Division of State Parks, staff members were extremely helpful in providing access to information and in sharing of their time. The essential staff providing assistance for the development of the RMP included Julie Roach, manager of Lake Texoma State Park. Assistance was also provided by Kris Marek, Doug Hawthorne, Don Schafer and Ron McWhirter – all from the Oklahoma City office of the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department. Merle Cox, Regional Manager of the Southeastern Region of Oklahoma State Parks also attended these meetings and assisted throughout the project. This RMP supplements and updates an earlier document from 2009. Due to the events of the time, the 2009 RMP focused on other possible properties that could be considered for expansion and development within the Oklahoma State Park system. Given the events and circumstances present in 2017, this RMP focuses on the future of the properties remaining within the boundaries of the extant Lake Texoma State Park. The October 2016 kick-off meeting followed critical discussions between the Commissioners of the Land Office (CLO), OTRD, Pointe Vista, and other parties regarding properties formerly included in the original Lake Texoma State Park. Attending this kick-off meeting on behalf of Pointe Vista and Catfish Bay Marina was Ryan Chapman.
  • The Irony of Emancipation in the Civil War South Clark Scott Nesbit

    The Irony of Emancipation in the Civil War South Clark Scott Nesbit

    The Irony of Emancipation in the Civil War South Clark Scott Nesbit, Jr. Richmond, Virginia B.A., Swarthmore College, 2001 M.A., University of Virginia, 2005 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Corcoran Department of History University of Virginia December, 2013 2 © Clark Scott Nesbit, Jr., 2013 3 ABSTRACT Nearly everyone in the Civil War South had opportunity to feel the irony of emancipation. This irony arose from the wartime difference between ending slavery as a regime and freeing slaves, as individuals. This dissertation explores the ways in which white southerners sacrificed, or refused to sacrifice, their interest in the enslavement of particular southern blacks for the sake of a regime that would safeguard slavery. It argues that African Americans at times sought their own freedom even if it meant aiding the Confederate regime, and at other times sought to avoid warzones even if it meant remaining legally enslaved. It argues that the Union’s war to defeat the Confederacy was also a war waged against the Confederates’ main source of labor. Such a war meant, for most who became free in the Civil War, emancipation through displacement and integration into a new system for managing former slaves, the refugee camp/plantation/recruitment complex. For those who remained in the wake of Sherman’s marches and other U.S. raids, it meant living in a land with little food. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my dissertation committee, Ed Ayers, Gary Gallagher, Peter Onuf, and Maurie McInnis for their patience and thoughtful critiques.
  • Dragoo-Butterfield Overland Mail Route

    Dragoo-Butterfield Overland Mail Route

    THE CHRONICLES OF OKLAHOMA Marking the Butterfeld: Retracing the Indian Territory Segment of the 1858–61 Butterfeld Overland Mail Stagecoach Road By Susan Penn Dragoo* In May 2018 the United States National Park Ser- vice recommended that the Butterfeld Overland Mail Stagecoach Road be designated a National Historic Trail, becoming a part of a system of modern trails that follow as closely as possible to the original routes of travel. The Butterfeld Overland Mail Company operated on the south- ern route from 1858 to 1861 and ran approximately 2,800 miles from Saint Louis, Missouri, to San Francisco, California. It was the frst successful overland enterprise to effciently and consistently connect the eastern United States with the west coast for mail delivery and passenger service, a need prompted by the huge migration to the Pa- cifc coast after the discovery of gold in California in 1848. It was also the longest stage line of its time, created signifcant infrastructure, and was a major infuence in the opening of the West.1 One hundred ninety-two miles of the Butterfeld line traversed Indian Territory, entering the Choctaw Nation from Fort Smith, Ar- 44 BUTTERFIELD OVERLAND MAIL ROUTE kansas, and crossing the Red River into Texas at Colbert’s Ferry, south of present-day Durant. Oklahoma historian Muriel H. Wright wrote in The Chronicles of Oklahoma in 1933 that if a straight-edge were placed on a map of southeastern Oklahoma between Fort Smith and Old Boggy Depot (representing a signifcant portion of the Butterfeld trail through Oklahoma), the route of the trail would deviate little from that line.
  • Fort Mcculloch a Mostly Forgotten Choctaw Historical Site Part One in a Three-Part Series by James Briscoe

    Fort Mcculloch a Mostly Forgotten Choctaw Historical Site Part One in a Three-Part Series by James Briscoe

    Iti Fabussa Fort McCulloch A mostly forgotten Choctaw historical site Part one in a three-part series by James Briscoe Fort McCulloch was built shortly after the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern (as it was known by the Confederates or Pea Ridge as the Union called it) in the Spring of 1862. For a time, the post was the largest and most fortified Confederate position in Indian Territo- ry, and yet so little was written about it that a traveler in 1870 wrote in the diary of his trip down the Texas/Butterfield Road, “Today we passed an earthen fort with rifle pits. Whose it was and for what we did not learn.” The earthen fort Joseph Edmonds spoke of was undoubtedly one of two gun positions guarding the west side of the crossing of Blue River on his trip down the old road. The two gun positions were a small part of a military post that covered over two square miles and housed (for a time) over 3000 troops of Choctaw, Chickasaw, Arkansas and Texas military units. The earthen fort Edmonds found on the Texas/ The fort was built by General Albert Pike, who became the Butterfield Road. ranking Confederate officer in Indian Territory after the death of post, consisting of the Quartermaster’s compound, unit-sized General Benjamin McCulloch at the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern. bivouacs, mechanics shops and the headquarters area. Work Pike’s orders were to defend Indian Territory and he personally details spent the day excavating and building the defensive points. did not believe that there were sufficient forces or supplies to This work was difficult in the shallow rocky soil and half of the defend the entire Indian Territory.
  • THE SOUTHEA.STE OFFICIAL ~ROAN OUTREASTE~N' ST.ATB - COLLB~~ ' ·VOLUME THIRTY-THREE DURANT, ~KLAHOMA , WEPNESDAY, NOVEM,#Thr 18,1953 Numfjer EIGHT •

    THE SOUTHEA.STE OFFICIAL ~ROAN OUTREASTE~N' ST.ATB - COLLB~~ ' ·VOLUME THIRTY-THREE DURANT, ~KLAHOMA , WEPNESDAY, NOVEM,#Thr 18,1953 Numfjer EIGHT •

    ·". ., 1 .. THE SOUTHEA.STE OFFICIAL ~ROAN OUTREASTE~N' ST.ATB - COLLB~~ ' ·VOLUME THIRTY-THREE DURANT, ~KLAHOMA , WEPNESDAY, NOVEM,#tHR 18,1953 NUMfJER EIGHT • e omtn A.l traC.;. t• ~ ·~ .__ -Man -AiuDtni A _qcippella .Choir Float Wins First·. ·Place In Annual Parade Ideal weather brought out an n- 1ed ·education's progress in the state thusiastic crowd to watch he and Southeastern's role in the Southeastern homecoming parade training of superior teachers. Saturday when the processio~of Mur1 Price, Ardmore principal floats and bands opida da of and president of t he alumni associ­ celebration for colleg stud ts ation, was mast er or ceremonies. and visiting alumni. An tim ed Special music w~s provided by 2000 .old grads wer on e three college. freshmen , Ann R ich­ campus' fot: the Home mmg fe ti- ar d and FraDkie vocal so- vities. · loist, and Patsy PHenf.m, , . a ccomp anist Witli musical comedies provi for both . · the theme of the homecoming a- Respoitds To Welcome rade, the a cappella choir's r e re- Dr.· A . L !-P ool, chairman of the sentation of "Blossomtime" was college's homecoming cofll.Jilittee, the sweepstakes wmner in the col- spoke brfefly to the alumni. who lege division and was exhibit e at were a lso addressed b y Jimmy F ox the fooball game Saturday a f er- Indianola ,who respqnded to Price's noon·. welcome. · . The cho i ~s float was named fi st-Dr . A. E. Shearer, lsouthPastern P.lace winner -in the "beautiful" di- pn•sident ;welco'(lled the guests as vision ~ of college floats.
  • Editorials 213 Fort Mcculloch W

    Editorials 213 Fort Mcculloch W

    Chronicles of Oklahoma Volume 4, No. 3 September, 1926 Editorials 213 Fort McCulloch W. B. Morrison 216 Hillside Mission Floyd E. Miller 223 Governor Cole V. M. Locke, Jr. 229 Letter from Mrs. Frank Korn 232 Some Notes of Interest Concerning Early-Day Operations in Indian Territory J. Y. Bryce 233 Letter Mrs. G. B. Hester 241 Some of the Pioneers of Pottawatomie County Mrs. J. W. Drake 242 The Keetoowah Society J. W. Duncan 251 The Indian Territory in 1878 Col. William Penn Adair 255 Historical Sketch of Col. Samuel Checote, Once Chief of the Creek Indians O. A. Lambert 275 Proposed Amendments to Constitution 281 Oklahoma’s Only Daughter of the American Revolution Mrs. A. J. Arnote 283 Biography of Captain William Graham Baird Mrs. Logan G. Hysmith 286 Judge Overton Love 288 Necrology 291 An Early-Day Baptist Missionary Baxter Taylor 296 Kiowa Chapter, No. 650 E. S. Mary M. Rogers 298 Book Reviews 302 EDITORIALS Page 213 Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. This is true in the fullest sense as it applies to our country, the State of Oklahoma, and to those of the present day no statement comes with more terrific force. We have seen the passing of a number of civilization’s essentials, things that were absolutely necessary to the conveniences of the days in which our fathers lived. Things without which happiness and prosperity would have been unknown; but now they are looked upon with curiosity, mingled with amazement. It was necessary then to have in every home, and on every farm some of the crudest implements of which we can conceive.
  • THE TWILIGHT of THE. CONFEDERACY in INDIAN TERRITORY, 1863-1865 by LARY CHARLES RAMPP Bachelor of Arts Northeastern State Colleg

    THE TWILIGHT of THE. CONFEDERACY in INDIAN TERRITORY, 1863-1865 by LARY CHARLES RAMPP Bachelor of Arts Northeastern State Colleg

    THE TWILIGHT OF THE. CONFEDERACY IN INDIAN TERRITORY, 1863-1865 By LARY CHARLES ,,RAMPP Bachelor of Arts Northeastern State College Tahlequah, Oklahoma 1965 Submitted to the faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS May, 1968 Copyright 1967 By LARY CHARLES RAMPP All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, re­ cording, or by any informational storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author~ OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY OCT 4·1 1961 THE TWILIGHT OF THE. CONFEDERACY IN ,,,·,·, .. ,,,-,••, -,v~.·.-:.. , INDIAN TERRITORY, 1863-1865 Thesis Approved: PREFACE This study bas a threefold purpose. First, it is the desire of the author to present a detailed, accurate, and interesting narrative of the military activities in Indian Territory during the latter. part of the Civil War, a pe];'iod of time from September, 1863, to June, 1865.· Due to the emphasis on military history, other materials are included only for reader.orientation and balance. A decided effort bas been made to present the red man as a soldier in Indian Territory •. Though not always appreciated, the Indian sol­ dier faithfully served the cause of his choice to the end" of the war. Second, the author hopes that this thesis will rectify the misconception that there were not important mil.­ itary activities in Indian Territory during the.latter part of the war. After the spectacular capture of a Federal wagon train at Cabin Creek in 1864, for example, the Confed .
  • Vol. 35 No. 4 the Legal Sooners of 1889 by Berlin B. Chapman

    Vol. 35 No. 4 the Legal Sooners of 1889 by Berlin B. Chapman

    Vol. 35 No. 4 The Legal Sooners of 1889 by Berlin B. Chapman ------------------------------------- 382 The Kaw Indians and Their Indian Territory Agency by Frank F. Finney ----------- 416 Lieutenant General Theophilus Hunter Holmes and Fort Holmes By Carolyn Thomas Foreman ----------------------------------------------------- 425 Federal Indian Relation in the South, 1781-1789 --------------------------------------- 435 The “Y” Chapel of Song by Jessie Newby Ray ----------------------------------------- 459 Notes and Documents ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 473 Book Reviews -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 494 Minutes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 500 THE LEGAL SOONERS OF 1889 IN OKLAHOMA By B. B. Chapman* RULESFOB "HARRISON'SHOSS RIPcE" The annual report of the General Land Office in 1889 stated that the opening of Oklahoma District was "the most important event for several years in the administration of the affairs" of the office. The district comprised nearly 3,00C square miles in present Oklahoma between Stillwater and Norman, including Oklahoma City and Guthrie. It was within the Creek and Seminole cessions of 1866. Prior to the open- ing of Oklahoma District the lands were available for almost unrestricted pasturage by ranchmen.' Oklahoma District was bounded on the south by the South Canadian River, on the east by the Indian Meridian and the Pawnee Reservation, on the north by the Cherokee Outlet, and on the west by the Cimarron River and the 98th Meridian. Between 1871 and 1874 the lands were surveyed and subdivided into sections and quarter sections. In 1886-87 the Southeru Kansas Railway Company and the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company constructed a railroad from Kansas via Guthrie and Oklahoma Station to Te~as.~ * This article is a revision by Dr. B.
  • ABSTRACT Confederate Empire and the Indian Treaties: Pike, Mcculloch

    ABSTRACT Confederate Empire and the Indian Treaties: Pike, Mcculloch

    ABSTRACT Confederate Empire and the Indian Treaties: Pike, McCulloch, and the Five Civilized Tribes, 1861-1862 Paul Thomas Fisher, M.A. Thesis Chairperson: T. Michael Parrish, Ph.D. From its beginning, the Confederacy looked to expand in power and territory by courting the Five Civilized Tribes away from the United States. To accomplish this, the Confederacy sent an unlikely pair of ambassadors: lawyer-negotiator Albert Pike and former Indian fighter Benjamin McCulloch. While Pike signed treaties with the tribes, McCulloch began organizing the Indians as Confederate soldiers. Pike took over equipping and training the various Indian units and led them to join the main Confederate army in Arkansas. This army, including Pike’s Indians, suffered defeat in the 1862 Battle of Pea Ridge. McCulloch’s death in the battle, Pike’s forced resignation afterward, and the defeat itself doomed Confederate efforts to dominate the frontier. Despite their substantial help to the Confederates, the Five Tribes received little help from Richmond, and paid a massive price for trying to get out of United States protection in unequal and unjust treaties after the war. Confederate Empire and the Indian Treaties: Pike, McCulloch, and the Five Civilized Tribes, 1861-1862 by Paul Thomas Fisher, B.A. A Thesis Approved by the Department of History ___________________________________ Jeffrey S. Hamilton, Ph.D., Chairperson Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Baylor University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Approved by the Thesis Committee ___________________________________ T. Michael Parrish, Ph.D., Chairperson ___________________________________ Julie A. Sweet, Ph.D. ___________________________________ Julie L.
  • Lliiiliiiiiiiiiii H

    Lliiiliiiiiiiiiii H

    Form 10-300 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STATE: (July 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Oklahoma COUNTY: NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Tvluskogee INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM ENTRY NUMBER (Type all entries — complete applicable sections) COMMON: Fort Da vis AND/OR HISTORIC: STREET AND NUMBER: c. 1 m. N of Bacon* College CITY OR TOWN: Muskoeee ' (SE/4 Sec. 7, T 15 N, R 19 B) STATE CODE Oklahoma 40 Muskogee 101 lliiiliiiiiiiiiii OWNERSH.P STATUS District Q Building D Public Public Acquisition: g] Occupied YM: , , ,. , ffl Restricted Site Q Structure E Private Q In Process LJ Unoccupied "" dl Unrestricted D Object D Both [ 1 Being Considered ri ]in Preservation . work L~ ' h- in progress LJ "° u PRESENT USE (Check One or More as Appropriate) 33 Agricultural O Government a PO* Of Q Commercial CD Industrial 3E1 Private Residence H CD Educational CD Military I | Religious D Museum «/» [~~1 Entertainment | | Scientific OWNER'S NAME: William McKinle Hill UJ STREET AND NUMBER: ULI Harris Road CITY OR TOWN: STATE: ?|ujskjQgf e. Oklahoma 40 COURTHOUSE, REGISTRY OF DEEDS. ETC: Office of the County Clerk STREET AND NUMBER: Muskoeee Courthouse CITY OR TOWN: STATE Muskogea Oklahoma 40 TITL.E OF SURVEY: Civil War Sites in Oklahoma DATE OF SURVEY: 1967 D Federal State County Q Local DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS: Historical Society STREET AND NUMBER: Historical Building CITY OR TOWN: STATE: Oklahoma City Oklahoma 40 Vi l*x-:-XvXW-::.:Xv.v.x::-::x.:.:.::xfe^ D Excellent Q G°°<* Q Foir n Deteriorated g] Ruins Qj Unexposed CONDITION (Check One) CCftecfc One; O Altered [3] Unaltered 0 Moved QC) Original Site DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL.